Thursday, August 28, 2008

By Phil Kloer/ AJC.The Decatur Book Festival is declaring its independence."America's Largest Independent Book Festival" reads on the poster for the third annual book megaparty,which runs Friday through Sunday.Other cities may have bigger turnouts,says Daren Wang,the DBF'S executive director,but they're all owned by larger corporations. Decatur's Festival, which hopes to draw 75,000 attendees this year, is run by an independent board of volunteers that strives to weave the festival into the laid-back artsy vibe of downtown Decatur.

Struggling independent bookstore Wordsmiths Books received enough donations to stay open, at least for now, according to owner Zachary Steele.

That means being open this weekend during the AJC Decatur Book Festival, an event attracting 50,000 people, many of them prospective book shoppers.After Steele’s plea for help was featured earlier this month by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and National Public Radio, checks arrived from 18 states and Canada, and traffic picked up at the store, Steele said. He would not say how much was donated.

How this story of financial woe ends, however, has still not been written.

“Though the signs are down from the window, our road is yet long,” Steele said in a blog on his Decatur store’s Web site.

DECATUR, GA (July 24, 2008) â”€ The splendors of the garden donâ€™t subside with summerâ€™s end, as the 2008 Decatur Garden Tour will attest. From the stately and formal to the wildly unconventional, visitors will have the opportunity to explore the gardens of 12 private homes as well as four public gardens across this vibrant intown city on Saturday, September 27 and Sunday, September 28. A variety of gardening lectures and demonstrations, musical performances and childrenâ€™s activities will further enhance the garden offerings.

The Decatur Preservation Alliance (DPA) and Oakhurst Community Garden Project (OCGP) are in partnership to host the tour, which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary. Decatur resident and Chair Joy Provost commented, â€œOn the Decatur Garden Tour, gardening enthusiasts at all levels can harvest creative ideas and inspiration to take back to their own gardens. This year, weâ€™re opening up more gardens than ever that will truly show whatâ€™s growing this autumn in Decatur.â€�

Private gardens on the tour include those belonging to Cakes & Ale restaurant owner Billy and Kristin Allin and AJC wine writer Gil Kulers and wife Eleanore. New this year is the inclusion of Saturday twilight tours with wine and entertainment in the gardens of renowned designer and author Ryan Gainey and environmental activist and artist Pandra Williams. Public gardens include the Oakhurst Community Garden, Woodlands Garden, Winnona Park Elementary School and Glenn Lake Nature Preserve.

Programming for adults and children featured throughout the weekend includes lectures, native plant walks, cooking demonstrations, storytelling and more. A schedule of events will be released soon on www.decaturgardentour.com.

Dates and Hours: Saturday, September 27 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and evening twilight tours from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, September 28 from noon to 5 p.m.

Tickets: $25 provides access to all gardens and educational programs for the entire weekend and includes the Saturday evening event featuring two gardens with wine. Tickets will be sold online at www.decaturgardentour.com and at retail locations in Decatur, also listed on the Web site. The weekend of the event, tickets will be available for sale at Woodlands Garden and Oakhurst Community Garden.

On the Web: www.decaturgardentour.com. Visit often for new program listings and garden descriptions.

Decatur Preservation Alliance

The Decatur Preservation Alliance is a non-profit citizensâ€™ group dedicated to preserving Decaturâ€™s historic structures and greenspaces.

On the web: www.decaturpreservationalliance.org

Oakhurst Community Garden

The Oakhurst Community Garden Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving community greenspace and cultivating the next generation of environmental stewards.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

The top picture was Decatur in 1960The city planners vision for Decatur for 1980 is photo on bottom.Note how they had planned for N. McDonough to curve around the left side of court house, that would have been a great, but one think city planners did plan on was MARTA.This could still be done today if it was made a one way street.I think the vision they had was a good one. They did see where E. Court Sq.would be closed off, and some sort of plaza would be in that place.Their 1980 vision could be a vision for 2028.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

This old service station looks like it use to be a early Sinclair Gas Station.I wonder how they plan to have outside tables and chairs.I don't see them putting a fence around it, but I could see them using large planters(low ones) to block off part of street. and I hope they use neon lights to make it look like and old gas station.For more details go here.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Would someone please give this girl some more outfits for her wardrobe.Now Remember Football season will be here soon so I think someone should donate a Decatur High Bulldog T- shirt or sweat shirt to her to wear for Football season. What a great way to Welcome the The New Decatur High School Stadium.

On the heels of their two-week-long “Save OurBookstore” campaign, having culminated this past weekend in a flurry ofin-store activity and events featuring authors, bands, poetry and a silentauction, Wordsmiths Books has announced it has met operating cost goals and islooking to the future. In a letter to customers and donors posted early thismorning in the store blog, Wordsmiths Books owner Zachary Steele writes“We asked for your help. We asked for the chance to take thisbusiness and turn it forward, to get out from under the weight of immediatecosts that were threatening to close our doors forever and begin the task ofpaying down debts that were accrued in our original location. And youresponded…thanks to you all, we are still here. We have raised enoughcapital to cover necessary operating expenses and give us a clear sight intothe Fall.” In regards to exactly where the bookstore stands nowfinancially, Steele writes “There is still much for us yet to do. We have operating expenses caught up and have made some traction into tomorrow,but we will still be working on paying down our debts for the foreseeablefuture. I would be remiss to state that all is well and that we arecompletely in the clear, though we are at least now in a position to addressour concerns. I am still working to secure the long-term future of thebookstore and will be open to investment of any level up to that of apartnership in the business.” Steele is encouraging anypotential investors to call Wordsmiths or to email him directly, and statesthat any and all investment opportunities to secure the solvency of the storewill be discussed and entertained.

Steele continues on to say that those still wishing tosupport the store have several options available, from the “Friends ofWordsmiths” loyalty plan to the “events” box which will beavailable for those wishing to continue to donate when at author events tosimply shopping and supporting the store, and promises he will continue todocument Wordsmiths’ financial situation on the store blog.

Further looking into the future, the store is focusing onits’ continued array of large, in-store author signings and events,including fantasy legend R.A. Salvatore on Sept 10th, “HowStarbucks Saved My Life” author Michael Gates Gill on September 22 and Food Network star SandraLee on October 15th, as well as the labor day weekend Decatur BookFestival, for which Wordsmiths will be handling event sales at the CooksWarehouse stage.

Wordsmiths Books’ owner Zachary Steele’s entireletter to customers is available on-line at blog.wordsmithsbooks.com

Location:Harmony Park is at the intersection of East Lake Drive and Oakview Road, in beautiful downtown Oakhurst.

Directions:From the East Lake MARTA station: Exit the south (College Ave.) side of the station and cross the parking lot to the southeast corner, which is the intersection of East Lake Dr. and Park Place. Follow East Lake south into Oakhurst, until you hear music and smell barbeque. (approx ½ mi)

From the Decatur MARTA station: Exit toward the Decatur Square and follow McDonough St. south. Cross Howard Ave., the railroad tracks, and College Ave. Turn right on Ansley St. and continue until it runs into Oakview Road. You should hear music and smell barbeque. (approx 1 mi)

From Atlanta, driving east on Ponce de Leon Ave.: Veer right on East Lake Drive, follow it to the fun.

From Atlanta, driving east on Dekalb Ave.: Turn left on Paden Circle, right on East Lake Drive, and follow it to the fun.

From Atlanta, driving east on Memorial Dr.: Turn left on Second Ave., turn right on Oakview Drive, and follow it to the fun.

Decatur High School's new stadium is on schedule to open with the first homefootball game September 19, 2008! We are all very excited and are making preparationsfor a festive grand opening event.

We'd like to invite any and all former football players to join us on that eveningand help build a bridge from the past to the present. Former players from any ofDecatur's schools (Decatur High, Trinity, Herring Street, or Decatur Boys High)will form a corrider on the new field through which the current football team willrun on to the field for the first game.

If you are a former football player and are interested in participating in thisspecial event, please let us know. You can email Sherri Breunig at sbreunig@csdecatur.orgor call 404-370-4400 ext. 928.

Wordsmiths Books in Decatur, GA announces partial list of contributors to Silent Auction of Robots as part of their“Saving Bookstores is Awesome!!! Night of Awesome!!!!”, FridayAugust 15

For the first night of their “Save OurBookstore” fundraising weekend, August 15, Wordsmiths Books in Decatur,GA has an evening of robot-themed activity planned. In addition to local authorJack Pendarvis reading from his new robot-themed novel Awesome and beloved indie-rock bandSealions performing music, the bookstore will be holding a silent auction ofvarious hand-crafted robot-themed goods.

Some notable contributors of items for the silent robotauction include:

---Local folk-pop musician Wayne Fishell(http://ofishell.com/), who, with his band The Wayne Fishell experiment, hasperformed at Wordsmiths Books many times (most recently for their Black And RedProm)

---Decatur artists Mark Frey (www.flickr.com/marcofrey),who predominantly works in acrylic painting brightly colored works. Thisrobot painting is a departure from his usual human figures and landscapes,though all have this same type of fun atmosphere. “Who isn’t a fanof Rosie from the Jetson’s?” he asks, “Robots are justso cool!”

Oh, Tygert Burton Pennington, how could you? That's the reaction at the Decatur Book Festival when news broke that one of their big draws, Ty Pennington —- host of TV's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and hammer-swinger-made-good —- is going back on his agreement to appear at the festival.

Pennington's people have informed festival organizers via e-mail that Pennington has made another commitment for the same weekend —- Aug. 29-31 —- and is pulling out of the book bash. That other commitment is Oprah Winfrey, who wants Pennington to tape a segment for her TV show.

So just like that, Pennington dropped the Decatur Book Fest like a high school boy who scored a hotter prom date at the last moment. And this from an Atlanta native and Sprayberry High School grad in Cobb County, no less.

The last-minute snub is an unwelcome surprise for the festival, as organizers already had printed thousands of posters and programs with Pennington's name on them. He had committed to promote his upcoming book "Good Design Can Change Your Life."

"This is obviously very disappointing for us and for his fans here in Atlanta," Daren Wang, the festival's executive director wrote in an e-mail. "The publisher understands the hardship this places on a young festival, even one as successful as ours. We are working with them to bring somebody even bigger and better."

Alexis Welby, Pennington's publicist at Simon & Schuster told us in an e-mail: "Due to a change in a TV project Ty is involved in, he regrettably had to cancel his appearance at the Decatur Book Festival. But he hopes to be able to reschedule sometime in the future."

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The Decatur Theatre was my favorite theatre, growing up, I spent alot of time there. Every Saturday morning I was there, most of the time I was first in line and watched them load the cash register and load the roll of tickets.Anyway I am constructing a site just to Showcase The Decatur Theatre so I am looking for any pictures that I can find to include on this site.The link can be foundhere. Now remember it's still under construction.Any stories I can find I will post and anything concerning 'The Decatur' as it was once called I will post, I still have alot to load.

This site will just be a site to showcase The Decatur Theatre.So don't expect daily entries.I just want a place to put all that I have on the theatre.But you can still make comments or share your stories or pictures,Pictures are very rare hard to find.I would love to have a ticket stub. I know some of you save stuff like that from your childhood. or a special date you had at the Decatur Theatre.I thought this might help find more pictures.

Welcome toNext Stop... DecaturHere you will find all kinds of photos, some new and some vintage, and sometimes even Decatur/Atlanta/World news. Also showbiz news, so sit back and have some fun.....Look out, sign-post up ahead.....NEXTSTOP...DECATUR, GA.

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Decatur High School Football

The Saturday location will be across the street from the Chik-Fil-A on N. McDonough in downtown Decatur.--Open Year-RoundSaturday Hours: 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Located near 498 N McDonough St, Decatur, GA

Wednesday Hours: 3 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Located at 308 Clairemont Ave, Decatur, GA

Field Trips with Sue is an award winning blog about things to do with kids in and around metro Atlanta and sometimes beyond. The blog is a Nickelodeon Parent’s Pick winner and a featured blog on Raveable.com, (named by Travel + Leisure magazine as a top travel site). The blog is featured on ATL Insider (the website of the Atlanta Convention and Visitor’s Bureau) and has featured posts on national travel site, Travel Savvy Mom. Bi-monthly, see Field Trips with Sue segments on CBS Better Mornings Atlanta and occasionally the local Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA.

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Remembering the Past will Help build the Future

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Wanted:Pictures of The Decatur Theatre, Scott Drive-InTheatre , The Suburban Plaza Theatre and The Dekalb Theatre,North Dekalb Theatre,Toco Hill Theatre, The Emory, and /or any old photos of Downtown Decatur,GA.Please contact me if you have any photos that you think might be of interest. I would love to have a Decatur Theatre ticket stub.ThanksPlease visit myDecatur Theatresite.Also visit my Scott Drive-In site.Also visit my North 85 Twin Drive-Insite.

REGATOR APPROVED

The Court House looks so much better without that bandstand built in the middle of the front steps. Why would they block the front view. Why don't they move it to the left about 100 feet over in the grass area.

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Comment:Will be visiting Decatur from Philadelphia for Christmas...and I am counting down the hours. My wife, daughter and I are making it an 800-mile holiday road trip to Atlanta...love it! Many thanks for your site...it keeps me close to beautiful Decatur all year round.- Carlos from Phoenixville, PA

Hey Decatur, GA! visting from Downey, CA to run the marathon- thanks for the course support- loved the signs and spirit and hope to visit ur town during this stay or the next. Thanks again guys&gals- u were awesome! : Marina from Downey, Calif.